Orfordness Lighthouse was a lighthouse on Orford Ness, in Suffolk, England. The 30 metres (98 ft) tower was completed in 1792. Work began on demolition in July 2020, and was completed in August.[2] The light had a range of 25 nautical miles (46 km; 29 mi).[3] It was equipped with an AIS transmitter with MMSI 992351016.[4]
 Orfordness Lighthouse | |
 | |
| Location | Orfordness Suffolk England |
|---|---|
| OS grid | TM4498348865 |
| Coordinates | 52°05′02″N 1°34′27″E / 52.083940°N 1.574246°E |
| Tower | |
| Constructed | 1637 (first) |
| Construction | brick tower |
| Automated | 1965 |
| Height | 30 m (98 ft) |
| Shape | tapered cylindrical tower with balcony and lantern |
| Markings | white tower with two red bands, white lantern |
| Operator | Orfordness Lighthouse Trust[1] |
| Heritage | Grade II listed building  |
| Light | |
| First lit | 1792 (current) |
| Deactivated | 2013 |
| Lens | 2nd order 700mm, three panel catadioptric |
| Range | 25 nautical miles (46 km; 29 mi) |
| Characteristic | Fl W 5s. |
History
editThe first lights in this area were constructed in 1637: a pair of wooden leading lights.[3] In 1720 the patent rights were acquired by Henry Grey, Esq.;[5] he replaced the decaying wooden lighthouses with a pair of brick towers at a cost of £1,850. The lower light, however, went on to be beset by a series of problems:[6] the tower was washed away in 1724; it was replaced by a timber hut, it was likewise washed away, in 1730. Its replacement, a timber tower, was destroyed by fire that same year, as was a second replacement the following year. A new tower was built in 1733. In 1746 the high light was coal-fired, the low light was oil-lit.[6]
These were replaced in 1780 by a pair of brick octagonal towers. Scarcely a dozen years later the lower light of the two was precariously close to the sea due to shore erosion; it collapsed not long afterward.
In 1792, anticipating this inevitability, the landowner Lord Braybrooke built a new 'high light' in a different position. This is the lighthouse which stood until 2020 when it was demolished due to continuing shore erosion. The old high light then functioned as the new 'low light'. Both were fitted with Argand lamps and reflectors (there were fourteen burners in the high light, later increased to sixteen).[7]
In 1837 the lease of the Orfordness lighthouses (held together with Winterton Lighthouse to the north) was purchased by Trinity House.[7] The following year, the low light was fitted with a fixed array of dioptric lenses and mirrors by Isaac Cookson & co. of Newcastle upon Tyne[8] (the mirrors were replaced by prisms in 1850).[7] In 1839 a novel Bude light was installed in the low lighthouse on an experimental basis, to test its appropriateness for use as a navigational light (ultimately the high cost of operation prevented further development in this regard).[9]
In 1864 both lighthouses were painted with red and white horizontal bands (they had previously been all red).[10] The high light retained its Argand lamps and reflectors until 1868, when they were replaced by a multi-wick lamp and a large (first-order) fixed optic, engineered by James Chance.[11] At the same time a red sector was added to the low light (marking Sizewell Bank to the north-east) and to the high light (marking the edge of the deep water channel through Hollesley Bay to the south-west).[12]
In 1887 the low light was again lost to erosion; this time it was not replaced (though Southwold Lighthouse, some 24 nautical miles (44 km; 28 mi) to the north, was established shortly afterwards "in lieu thereof").[13] Instead, in 1888, red and green sectors were added to the high light,[14] which was made occulting (with the light being eclipsed for three seconds in every forty). A subsidiary white light was also introduced, shining "north-eastward from a window 60 feet below the high light, visible over an arc of about 25°, covering Aldborough ridge, and to assist vessels in rounding Orfordness".[13]
The lighthouse was further modernized in 1914: a new revolving optic was installed (which remained in use for 99 years), and a new additional light was installed along with fixed lenses at a level below the lantern, so the sector lights now shone from windows on the tower. The lighthouse was electrified in 1959, and in 1964 it became the first lighthouse to be monitored by telemetry from Harwich, ushering in a process of lighthouse automation which continued around England over the next 35 years. The keepers were withdrawn from Orfordness the following year.[14]
Decommissioning
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The lighthouse was decommissioned on 27 June 2013, because of the encroaching sea. The modern electrical equipment and hazardous materials (mercury) have been removed. Trinity House has increased the power of the light at Southwold Lighthouse to compensate for the closure of Orfordness lighthouse. Unless demolished, the Orfordness tower was expected to survive for seven to eight years before falling into the North Sea.[15] In September 2019 however, high tides and harsh weather damaged the lighthouse's ancillary bungalow, originally an outbuilding of the lighthouse keeper's cottages, causing it partly to collapse, requiring it to be demolished, and brought the shoreline only feet from the lighthouse itself.[16] In July 2020 work began to dismantle the structure.[17]
The 1913 optic has been removed and is now displayed at the London headquarters of the International Maritime Organization.[18]
Orfordness Lighthouse Trust
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After decommissioning, the lighthouse was purchased by the Orfordness Lighthouse Trust, a registered charity established "to preserve the Lighthouse for as long as possible and its legacy after that".[19] Under the Trust's stewardship, the lighthouse was opened to the public on specified days each summer between 2013 and 2019. In the winter of 2013–14, 10 metres of the surrounding beach was lost to erosion; Trust volunteers then installed a sea defence, in the form of gravel-filled bags, to help protect the low cliff in front of the lighthouse. Notwithstanding these measures, the lighthouse remained "at imminent risk of falling into the sea".[20] In 2019 the Trust said that it was committed to keeping the lighthouse standing for as long as possible. For the longer term, it aspired "to dismantle the Lighthouse and rebuild a replica elsewhere on the Ness".[20] With this in mind, the optic was removed in 2014.[19] Storms in September 2019 undermined the bungalow beside the lighthouse, causing it to collapse, and erosion of the beach in front of the structures and to either side of them prevented any further work to repair their foundations and the deployment of any more sea defences. In winter storms in early 2020, the lighthouse's oil store was swept away and only the tower remained undamaged. The Times reported on 18 July 2020 that work on demolition had begun. It quoted Nicholas Gold of the Trust as saying: "In recent months the building has become a hazard."[21] By mid-August, the lighthouse had been completely demolished, but the Trust aim to build a 'tribute', involving the top third of the former lighthouse and some other objects salvaged.[2]
See also
edit
References
edit- ^ Rowlett, Russ. "Lighthouses of Eastern England". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
- ^ a b "Orfordness Lighthouse: Historic Suffolk landmark reduced to rubble". BBC News. 11 August 2020. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
- ^ a b "Orfordness Lighthouse". Trinity House. Archived from the original on 18 February 2011. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
- ^ "ORFORDNESS".
- ^ Page, William (1907). The Victoria History of the County of Suffolk, volume 2. London: Archibald Constable & Co. p. 230. ISBN 9780712906470. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
- ^ a b Stevenson, D. Alan (1959). The World's Lighthouses: From Ancient Times to 1820. Oxford University Press.
- ^ a b c "Lighthouse management : the report of the Royal Commissioners on Lights, Buoys, and Beacons, 1861, examined and refuted Vol. 2". 1861. p. 74.
- ^ Tag, Thomas. "The Fresnel Lens Makers". The United States Lighthouse Society. Archived from the original on 14 February 2019. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
- ^ Edwards, E. Price (1884). Our Seamarks: a plain account of the Lighthouses, Lightships, Beacons, Buoys, and Fog-signals maintained on our Coasts. London: Longmans, Green & co. p. 50. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
- ^ London Gazette, Issue 23040, Page 5513, 21 November 1865
- ^ Chance, James Frederick (1902). The Lighthouse Work of Sir James Chance, Baronet (PDF). London: Smith, Elder & co. p. 166. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
- ^ London Gazette, Issue 23386, Page 3126, 2 June 1868
- ^ a b London Gazette, Issue 25806, Page 2076, 10 April 1888
- ^ a b Woodman and Wilson (2002). The Lighthouses of Trinity House. Bradford on Avon: Thomas Reed.
- ^ "Orfordness lighthouse gets switched off and left to the sea". BBC News. 28 June 2013.
- ^ "Orfordness Lighthouse bungalow destroyed by storms". BBC News. October 2019.
- ^ "Orfordness Lighthouse is dismantled as sea edges closer". BBC News. 16 July 2020.
- ^ "Her Majesty The Queen Visits The International Maritime Organization". Getty Images. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
- ^ a b "About the Trust". Orfordness Lighthouse. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
- ^ a b "Welcome to Orfordness Lighthouse". Orfordness Lighthouse Trust. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
- ^ "Update 30th September 2019". Orfordness Lighthouse Trust. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
External links
edit
- Orfordness Lighthouse
- East Anglian Film Archive: Lighthouse keeper training film, including footage of the lighthouse in 1963 Archived 22 February 2019 at the Wayback Machine
1.2miles
National Nature
Reserve
station
Island (RSPB)
- ^ "Orfordness Visitor Map". National Trust. 2018. Retrieved 19 March 2023.